“Britain, Britain, Britain. Cultural capital of the world. The Sistine Chapel, British. Mozart’s “Requiem”, British. The Great Wall of China, British. But none of that stuff would’ve been invented if not for the people of Britain. The men, the women, the boys, the girls, and the monkey-children that populate this well-fit country. Let’s ‘ave it!”
Little Britain is the deranged sketch show from Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and Warner Brothers brings the second series of the popular British program to DVD in a two disc set. It’s loaded with special features that any resident of the Isles will appreciate.
The uninitiated will want to start with series one, but fans will definitely enjoy series two. The blurb on the front of the set describes it as Monty Python’s Flying Circus with a touch of Fellini, well described that. The show covers the deranged inhabitants of “Little Britain” which is from the equally deranged minds of comedians Lucas and Wailliams. There’s also very funny narration by Tom Baker (of Doctor Who fame). I’ll not even attempt to describe the episodes but say that all six of series two are located on the first disc. Several popular characters continue in series two.
Vicky Pollard, Emily (Britain’s worst transvestite, joined by an even more unconvincing tranny – Florence), Lou and Andy (Yeah, I know.), Daffyd “the only gay in the village” Thomas, Marjorie Dawes of Fatfighters, Sebastian Love and the Prime Minister, Dr. Lawrence and Anne (eh, eh, eh), Mr. Man and the shopkeeper, hypnotist Kenny Craig and Dennis Waterman (who wrote the theme song and sings the theme song, if there were a theme song that is) all return in series two.
Call me Bubbles, dahling
New characters include Bubbles De Vere, a hideous obese woman who’s staying at a health spa and not paid her bill. Bubbles usually ends up offering “herself” for payment to the poor party that’s trying to get payment from her. We also have Judy and Maggie, one of which has a nasty habit of vomiting on people. There’s also the 25 year old Harvey who still breast feeds (and his fiancé!) and Carol “Computer says no” Beer. Some are more successful than others.
I found the vomiting lady rather repetitive, but have to admit that I chuckled every time it happened. Some characters do not return. Missing are mad innkeeper Ray McCooney, elderly washed up actor Bernard Chumley (reminded me of Charles Laughton), and Edward and Samantha, the school teacher who marries his student and still treats her as such.
They do say that some of these may return in series three in some of the extras. Disc one contains all the episodes (except the special Comic relief one) and can be accessed in several ways. You can play all, choose from a character play list (however, not all of the characters are listed) or select which episode to watch.
Little Britain is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1,85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. There are no special features. Hey wait a minute, you said this disc was packed with special features! Yeah, I know. What a kerfuffle! Actually, it is packed with special features and mostly they’re located on disc two. Disc one does have commentaries by Lucas, Walliams, and producer Geoff Posner and a silly feature called “Wish you were here” that just says “DVD player says no.”
What a kerfuffle. Yeah, I know
Disc two has the very nice 43 minute “Little Documentary” and features lots of behind the scenes footage. The boys also produced a special seventh episode for the Comic Relief charity (it also has a commentary).
This new episode has guest stars George Michael (with Lou and Andy), Sir Elton John (interviewed by Daffyd, who does not know Elton’s gay), Simon Callow (with Sebastian and the PM), Trisha Goddard (the UK’s version of Oprah? Who has Vicky Pollard on her show) and singer Robbie Williams (who is given a makeover by Emily and Florence). There are also 3 minutes of outtakes from this episode.
Next up are 50 minutes of deleted scenes (with optional commentary) that feature a lot of characters that are new but did not make it into series two, as well as new bits with series two characters. There’s also an appearance by the granny obsessed fellow from series one, very funny that. These are hilarious and are well worth the time to watch, they probably could’ve made an eighth episode out of these. Next up is a 43 minute interview of Lucas and Walliams by Dr. Graeme Garden at the National Film Theatre.
There are also two 35 minute audio interviews from the Chris Moyles Show and the Jonathon Ross radio show. Next is a 10 minute appearance on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross television show (their first appearance is on series one’s DVD). There’s a sketch from the Richard and Judy show where the show’s hosts play Lou and Andy. Finally, there’s a very funny 2 minute Daffyd sketch that was done for BBC One.
The two worst transvestites in Britain
Fans of the series will be most pleased with this DVD set. If you’re remotely interested in the show, I would suggest picking up series one instead of starting with this one. Very funny stuff if you’re a fan of British cringe comedy or black humour.
Good bive!
Little Britain: The Complete Second Series is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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